Kyle Busch got the win Saturday, but perhaps no driver helped himself more than Ryan Newman, who cracked the top 12 in points (10th) with his fourth-place finish at Richmond. Forty-three of the 56 drivers who left Richmond in the Chase field have gone on to make the Chase of the Cup. Newman bumped David "The Franchise" Reutimann from the top 12.

Kyle Busch got the win Saturday, but perhaps no driver helped himself more than Ryan Newman, who cracked the top 12 in points (10th) with his fourth-place finish at Richmond. Forty-three of the 56 drivers who left Richmond in the Chase field have gone on to make the Chase of the Cup. Newman bumped David "The Franchise" Reutimann from the top 12.

After an awful start this season (36th-28th-25th-22nd), Newman has four top tens in the last six races, with a season-best third in Phoenix two weeks ago. Newman, who led in Richmond for 45 laps, said he had the car to compete with Kyle Busch on Saturday.

"We had a winning race car and I think the guy out front typically had a winning race car but the bottom line was we didn’t get out front when we needed to," Newman said. "We had the leader strategy but got caught up on that restart behind in the No. 5 car. I turned him around in the accident because we all got jumbled up and I lost four positions.

"We showed that we could lead and we had a car that could race with Kyle (Busch), no doubt."

"I think Ryan would have had the same kind of runs we had the first four races. He just had really weird, bad luck happen, just weird things happen," Stewart said. "After that fourth week was over, we’ve been basically running the same pace."

Newman has six top-ten finishes at Darlington, home of this weekend’s Southern 500.

]]>http://www.allleftturns.com/video-kasey-kahne-flips-out-after-crash-richmond/feed/1VIDEO: RICHMOND CRASHEShttp://www.allleftturns.com/video-richmond-crashes/
http://www.allleftturns.com/video-richmond-crashes/#commentsMon, 04 May 2009 13:19:57 +0000A look at the crashes from the race at Richmond on Saturday.

On his 24th birthday, Kyle Busch won going away at the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond International Raceway for his third victory of the season. He became the youngest driver to capture 15 career victories.

On his 24th birthday, Kyle Busch won going away at the Russ Friedman 400 at Richmond International Raceway for his third victory of the season. He became the youngest driver to capture 15 career victories.

Busch celebrated in his usual understated style, with a series of burnouts at the finish line, a victory stance atop his car and a lap with the checkered flag. This week he added a reverse crowd dive off his car at Victory Lane to the repertoire.

"This car wasn’t perfect all night. It was good, but it wasn’t perfect. I knew that when we had practice," said Busch, who credited his crew chief Steve Addington for putting together a strategy that allowed him to break away at the end of the race.

With an eighth-place finish, Gordon overtook Kurt Busch for the points lead. Stewart is third. Denny Hamlin is fourth and Kyle Busch moved up to fifth. Newman moved up and into the 10th spot thanks to his fourth-place finish and David Reutimann fell out of the top 12. Dale Earnhardt Jr., who was not a factor in this race and finished 27th, is mired in 18th place.

I am live-blogging the race in Richmond tonight. Check back here for updates during the race. And feel free to leave comments here or message me during the race at http://twitter.com/allleftturns.

All times Eastern

7:22 pm

Great quote from Darrell Waltrip on FOX about Kyle Busch, "People want him to win like Petty. They want him to drive like Earnhardt and they want him to act like Mark Martin. It just ain’t going to happen. This is an extraordinary talent. Enjoy it."

7:38 pm

Max Papis just Tweeted that he is at Ikea eating a meatball sandwich. When it comes to Twitter, Papis is NASCAR’s Ashton Kutcher.

7:50 pm

My pick to win: Denny Hamlin.

7:56 pm

Going green-yellow. Is there any other sport that starts without actually starting? I guess a lot of regular-season NBA games qualify as green-yellow, for their lack of competitiveness. Randy Moss had a green-yellow season in Oakland a few years ago. I am often green-yellow the first hour I am at work. I have been on some boring dates where the conversation went green-yellow. Guess it happens more often than you think.

8:04 pm

Why does a Burger King commercial for a kids meal have so many dancing hot chicks? Who is BK trying to appeal to? Sexually mature children? Horny parents? I need someone to explain this to me.

8:07 pm

Kyle Busch came to play. He might be NASCAR’s Simon Cowell, but he’s fun to watch.

Above: The kind of guy who would nickname himself Rowdy?

8:18 pm

Both Busches are looking good. (Yeah, I said it.)

8:27 pm

Was worried about Carl Edwards today. He spent all week talking about crashes and injured fans. That can’t be good for your psyche. On the NASCAR Now interview he looked like last weekend’s wreck really affected him. Lots of deep breaths and long pauses before answers. Looks like he is focused tonight.

8:30 pm

My pick (Hamlin) is in the lead. This is not a gloat-free zone.

8:47 pm

weather.com says 5 to 10 percent chance of precipitation over the next few hours.

9:01 pm

Last week Darrell Waltrip said, in so many words, that Danica Patrick is not strong enough to drive a stock car. Now, I know it is a physically demanding sport, but what they just showed Denny Hamlin doing inside his car, yeah, it looked stressful, and I am sure his feet are moving constantly, and it is hot, but driving the car does not appear to be impossible for a physically fit woman. Come on, Joey Logano can do it, and he’s built like a high school baseball player.

I think she could take him.

9:10 pm

Tweet from AP reporter Jenna Fryer: "The 88 crew has made the wrong adjustments on 2 straight pit stops. Dale Jr. ‘We’re just acting like a bunch of #(*&!$* morons tonight.’"

9:21 pm

Race is official at lap 201. weather.com still says 10 percent chance of rain

9:26 pm

Jeff Hammond dresses like a tire salesman. I would buy four whitewalls from that guy.

Good to see so much talent out front. Newman, Gordon, Kyle Busch, Martin, Kurt Busch. Hope the rains stay away. Want to see these guys go at it.

10:16 pm

Dale Junior is 29th. And this is one of the tracks he likes.

10:19 pm

Not going green because people were throwing things on track.

10:37 pm

Wreck: Stremme, Johnson, Kahne. Crashes are so much milder than Dega, which is to be expected.

10:45 pm

Chris Myers always sounds to me like a guy who drops his voice a little deeper to impress girls. That said, it’s a great voice. You get the feeling it worked once in a bar and he said, "This is my move. I’m going with it. I’m the melifluous guy."